Should You Buy a Nitrided Barrel for Your AR-15?

Nitrided barrels are all the rage these days. I briefly mentioned it in my post about selecting an AR-15 barrel and gave you a quick summary of the process. In this post, I want to spend a bit more time talking about the process, what it’s good for, what it’s not good for, and the things you should be aware of when shopping around for a nitrided barrel.

Here is a quick description of the process from an industrial coating company, IBC Coatings, I’ve bolded some key elements.

Salt Bath Nitriding/Nitrocarburizing was originally created as an alternative to gas nitriding that would produce a more uniform case through surface contact between the substrate and liquid salt. When steel parts are placed into a preheated liquid salt, there is sufficient energy localized near the surface due to differences in chemical potential that then allows nitrogen and carbon species to diffuse from the salt into the steel substrate. The process is carried out at 750-1050°F, making it faster than gas nitriding. Lower temperature cycles produce an S-Phase/Expanded Austenite case in stainless steels. Post-oxidation after nitriding combined with polishing produces coatings with exceptional appearance (black color) and high corrosion resistance (greater than electrolytic chrome plating). To ensure part quality, our salt baths are continuously monitored, with chemistry adjustments made when necessary.

Salt Bath Nitriding/Nitrocarburizing is well known under various trade names, including ARCOR®, TENIFER®, TUFFTRIDE®, MELONITE®, and QPQ®.

Nitriding Explanation

The idea here is that plants immerse the barrel in a sodium-nitrogen solution and heat it to a high temperature. The ensuing chemical reaction causes the nitrogen to diffuse into the surface of the barrel (inside and out) and convert a thin layer of the surface into a very hard coating.

The surface of a nitrided barrel is in the realm of 60 to 65 Rockwell, while the typically gun barrel steel is 28-32 Rockwell. This surface layer becomes a very corrosion resistant “case” around the barrel steel.

This video shows what the process looks like at the Melonite plant.

The process of nitriding is fundamentally different from chrome lining. With chrome, a thin layer of the actual material is removed and then replaced with hard chrome. Nitriding actually converts the surface into something else.

Benefits of a Nitrided Barrel

The primary benefit of the nitriding process, from a rifle standpoint, is corrosion resistance. Barrels that undergo the process are extremely resilient in the face of corrosive environments, nearly four times more so than chrome.

Along with that is that the entire barrel, both inside and outside, undergo the same process. In effect, the entire barrel exterior becomes resistant. Chrome, on the other hand, only protects the bore of the barrel.

Additionally, the surface layer created by the nitriding process has a much lower coefficient of friction compared to bare metal or chrome. It’s not quite as relevant to barrel bores, but this means that you would need less lubrication on treated parts.

You might think that reducing friction might increase velocity as well. I have read some accounts verifying this on Accurate Shooter, but it was only by about 1% or so. I don’t think increased velocity is a selling point here.

Cost is a third benefit. Nitriding is both easier and cheaper to perform than chrome lining.

The bottom line is that the process costs less to perform, which means cheaper barrels. Now, that’s not to say that you’re automatically going to pay less. You might, depending on the manufacturer, but there are still a lot of QC procedures that go into this. I’ll talk about that in a moment.

Barrel Nitriding vs Chrome Lining

This is where the rubber meets the road.

The real benefit of nitriding is that you get better corrosion resistance than chrome, on both the inside and outside, at a lower cost, without affecting accuracy.

Remember, the surface of the bore alters its chemical structure to become a harder material. That is different from chrome, where we are adding a new layer of something. Since it’s a conversion process rather than an additive process, nitriding maintains the exact dimensions of the bore before and after.

Consistency is accuracy.

I reached out to the Stephanie Dahlke, the Operations Manager at Criterion Barrels with a few technical questions. She brought some of the engineers to comment. They mentioned that it’s possible to maintain very accurate barrels with the nitriding process because they can machine the barrel, polish and lap the bore, then send it off to get nitrided. The barrel comes back with the same polished finish it left with but much more protected.

Nitriding Tradeoffs

If you’re following so far, then it seems like nitriding is a fantastic deal. You get all of the benefits of chrome, and then some, while keeping accuracy. All the while it costs less.

Win-win, right?

Unfortunately, there are no free lunches. There are tradeoffs and compromises.

Nitriding is about a century old and well known in the weapons world. So why haven’t we seen it used in more weapons? The first reason is heat resistance. The surface of a nitrided barrel may be harder than chrome, but it is not as heat resistant.

The nitrided barrels lasted an average of 28,000 shots before rejection. In this study, rejection happened when 20% of the shots in a given string of fire showed yaw of more than 15%. Yawing happens as a barrel’s rifling fails and can no longer stabilize the bullet.

Put another way, that’s the equivalent of firing 933 30-round magazines over the course of about two hours.

Now, keep in mind that we’re talking about some extreme conditions with a very generous standard for barrel rejection. You would likely get rid of a barrel for decreased accuracy long before it got to the point of bullet tumbling.

But anyway, all of that to say that the average rifle shooter probably doesn’t need to worry so much about heat generation in a semi-auto rifle.

By the way, there were other barrels in that test. The ones that were bare metal, without any linings, lasted just under an average of 9,000 shots before rejection. The top performers in the test were an experimental configuration of a chrome bore with stellite insert by the chamber. Those went for almost 39,000 shots before rejection.

Nitriding Process Risks

Referencing the quoted portion above, the nitriding process takes place at a temperature of 750 to 1050 degrees Fahrenheit.

Coincidentally, this is near the same temperature used for barrel heat treatment and stress relief, which ranges from 950 to 1200 degrees depending on the type of steel.

There’s a very real risk that heating to such temperatures can undo heat treatments already performed by the manufacturer.

I asked Stephanie about this. She relayed that it’s very important for the nitriding facility to certify the temperature they used. The particular facility Criterion uses is ISO certified and provides all of that documentation for them.

While I haven’t seen anyone mentioning decreases in accuracy after nitriding, I have seen many warnings to not perform the process on a barrel that’s already been fired a significant amount. The microcracks formed in the bore and chamber of such barrels may be aggravated by the high temperatures. That could actually degrade the barrels accuracy.

Barrel Extension Torque

Another thing to consider when shopping around for nitrided barrels is the barrel extension itself. If the barrel and extension are nitrided together, the process tends to relieve the torque between them. Manufacturers need to take care to re-torque and headspace the extension and barrel shoulder after nitriding is complete.

Surface Hardness

Faxon 18″ Gunner barrel, which is nitrided

The very hard surface of a nitrided barrel means that it’s hell on drill bits. When I was finishing up one of my rifles that happens to have a nitrided Faxon Gunner barrel, I wanted to have the front sight post pinned in place. It took me months to find a shop willing to do the work.

Finding shops ready to drill and pin a standard phosphated barrel is easy, though. If you’re wondering, I utilized W.A.R. Rifles in Manassas Park, VA for the job. They did very clean work and I would definitely recommend them in the future.

Nitriding Stainless vs 4140/4150/CMV Barrels

Now you have a sense of what nitriding is and what it’s good for. The last thing I wanted to talk about was the market. When you go out and shop for a nitrided barrel, you’re going to see both standard 4150/CMV and stainless options.

For a long time, I didn’t understand why a company would go through the effort of nitriding a stainless barrel. If the primary benefit was corrosion prevention and nitriding was a replacement for chrome lining, I didn’t think it made sense to perform the process on a barrel that you weren’t going to to use chrome on anyway.

So, I asked Stephanie at Criterion about that one as well.

While corrosion resistance is still a benefit, even for stainless barrels, the primary advantage is the hardness of the surface layer. Again, since nitriding is a surface conversion process, a barrel manufacturer can go through all of their regular processes to make an accurate and polished stainless barrel, and then help it last longer with nitriding.

That said, you’re going to find cost savings with well-made nitrided chrome-moly barrels. Either one will serve you well from an accuracy standpoint. However, a nitrided chrome-moly barrel is still your best bet over stainless if you want to go with a light profile. Just because it’s nitrided doesn’t mean it overcomes the temper embrittlement issues inherent in stainless barrels.

Summing Up

Well there you have it. That about wraps up everything I know about the nitride process as it applies to rifle barrels.

The two primary benefits of the nitriding process is corrosion resistance and maintaining a barrels dimensional consistency, which improves accuracy. The surface is also very hard and protective, provided you don’t abuse the barrel with excessive heat.

If you plan on doing excessive belt-fed levels of fully automatic fire, then a chrome-lined barrel is still the way to go. For most of us, a nitrided barrel will work just fine. By bottom line, as always, comes back to selecting your barrel from a quality manufacturer and letting them worry about how it gets made.

Matt is the primary author and owner of The Everyday Marksman. He's former military officer turned professional tech sector trainer. He's a lifelong learner, passionate outdoorsman, and steadfast supporter of firearms culture.

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Commenting Rules: Be cool. This is a community about self-improvement and growth. We encourage respectful debate and criticism, but don't be mean or rude. If you're being mean or disrespectful, your comment will be deleted without warning. That said, have fun, and thanks for the conversation!

Once again, excellent write up!
I still haven’t jumped on the nitride train for a few reasons. A chrome lined barrel produced by a quality manufacturer will negate any perceived accuracy that nitride has. I use Criterion barrels, their chrome lined barrels specifically and you know how they perform. I vaguely recall Criterion comparing the two, saying that there was no noticeable difference in accuracy between them, both being sub-MOA. I also recall the YT video of the shooting team Criterion sponsors saying that even they could not notice a difference in accuracy between Criterion SS and CL barrels.
I’m also a Vet like yourself so you know how the military as a whole treats their weapons. I never had any issues maintaining my CL barrels in the field in the rain, mud, and general muck for prolonged periods of time. Though nitride is more corrosion resistant, it is not corrosion proof and still requires maintenance, less so than a CL barrel though. Like you, I think what it boils down to is who is making your barrel.
I value barrel life and as you stated, CL is simply superior in this aspect. Not discounting nitride barrels and what you wrote, I respect them but for me, I see no noticeable improvement over a quality CL barrel. Nevertheless, it’s always great to have options on the table for people to decide what best suits them and also to spur continuing improvement in barrel manufacturing down the road. Love your articles, keep it up!

Hey Zach, thanks for chiming in and thank you for the compliments on the articles!

I totally agree that it all comes down to the quality of the manufacturer. To my knowledge, Criterion is the best in the market at producing accurate chrome barrels, so I’m not surprised that there is little difference between their chrome lined and nitrided barrels. But that also comes with a bit of a price premium in their products. I think Colt is up there as well, for that matter.

For some more budget-oriented manufacturers, I can definitely see situations where a nitrided barrel would be a more cost-effective way to produce accurate chrome moly barrels at a friendly price point. Not everyone has the expertise or budget to do it to a high level.

At this point, I don’t really advocate for one or the other. I used to sway more towards chrome just because I wasn’t as familiar with the process. But doing the research for this article put me more in the neutral camp. Either one works well. The real difference is in who is making it.

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Larry

What do you think about CHF vs button rifled? Are CHF better in terms of reliability? What about accuracy?

Hey Larry, thanks for stopping by! That’s a good question, but the bottom line is that I don’t think there’s enough of a difference to worry about. A CHF barrel has the potential to be stronger due to the way metal grains are compressed, so that would be a little extra durability. But it also produces the most stress on the barrel during manufacture, so proper heat treatment is very important to maintain accuracy.

Either one will produce an accurate barrel when done correctly. The real difference is in how the manufacturer handles the lapping and polishing of the bore itself. That takes extra time, and therefore money, to do correctly.

I remember being issued original M-16s that had hard chrome BCGs and hard chrome barrel extensions. They were like glass on glass for natural lubricity, and never malfunctioned. Carbon wiped off easily. I’m trying to upgrade the house guns to similar, and I’m told that a NiB BCG on a Melonite extension is the lowest Cx of friction possible. Parkerized on steel is your baseline at 1. Bare steel on bare steel is .85, IIRC hard chrome on steel is .05, hard chrome on hard chrome is .015, and NiB on Melonite is below THAT.

However, I’ve seen reports that NiB attracts carbon a lot more than chrome. So the best trade off might be Melonite on Melonite.

Either way, I want some improved coating on the extension to reduce carbon fouling.

This article was very useful, and I’m wondering if you’ve reviewed other coatings.

Hi Michael, thanks for commenting (and the stars!). To be honest, I don’t have a lot of experience with other coating methods. I’ve seen buzz about NiB ebb and flow over the years. Another one is Titanium Nitride (TiN) that was popular for a while. The only experience I have with either is the piston in my M1A, which is TiN.

This is a case where the classic, chrome, is a known reliable quantity and you’d just have to experiment.

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Erik DeShane

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Great write Up!

If a rifle manufacturer uses the nitro carburized process for a 416R stainless on a short barrel (7″-11.5″) are they simply trying to optimize accuracy (stainless) and increase barrel life (nitro process) ?
OR
Could this be a cheaper way to build a “good enough” barrel vs a high quality/accurate CHF & chrome lined barrel ?

Seems like a cost cutting measure, particularly when you consider this rifle is marketed by the manufacturer for “hard use” and to be run primarily suppressed.

For your first question, I suspect as you do that the nitriding of a stainless barrel is actually a cost-cutting measure since the stainless steels are easier to work with and machine. The carbon steels like 4150 are much better about handling heat from “hard use.”

To your second question, I don’t have a good answer so I reached out to some contacts at barrel manufacturers to get their opinion for you. My suspicion in the meantime, though, is that there really isn’t a difference and the lithium embedded salt nitro-carburizing is more of a marketing term to distinguish one company’s product from another, like QPQ vs Melonite (even though they’re basically the same thing).

Matt

Matt is the primary author and owner of The Everyday Marksman. He's former military officer turned professional tech sector trainer. He's a lifelong learner, passionate outdoorsman, and steadfast supporter of firearms culture.